Commuters starting Thursday can catch buses to Livermore Lab and the Dublin BART station at the transit center in downtown Manteca.

HIME ROMERO/The Bulletin

Starting Thursday Manteca commuters can catch a bus connecting with BART service in Dublin at the Manteca Transit Station.

“That’s great news,” Manteca Councilman John Harris said of the new San Joaquin Regional Transit District stop.

Inter-city SJRTD buses already stop at the transit station as do Manteca transit buses. The station at Moffat and South Main Street opened in July.

The BART connection that also takes commuters to Livermore Lab has been running for a number of years with a bus originating at the Manteca South Main Street park-and-ride lot in front of Wal-Mart. That line will now be extended to the transit station in downtown Manteca that features covered parking as well as a plug-ins for electric vehicles.

There are three BART bound buses currently departing each workday at 5:05, 6:05, and 8:15 a.m. They arrive at Livermore Lab at 6:10, 7:10 and 9:15 a.m. and at the Dublin BART station at 6:50, 7:50, and 9:50 a.m. The three buses depart the BART station for Manteca for the home commute at 3:15, 4:15, and 6:35 p.m. and Livermore Lab at 3:45 and 4:45 p.m. with an on-demand stop at 7:05 p.m. The return commute buses arrive in Manteca at 4:35, 5:35 and 7:55 p.m.

Daily fares are $7 one-way and $14 round-trip. Monthly passes for Manteca to Livermore Lab are $138 and $168 to the Dublin BART station.

Information on the bus service is available at sanjoaquinrtd.com while reservations can be made by calling RTD Commuter Services at 888.802.WORK (9675). Since the service has limited capacity transit officials strongly recommend advance reservations to ensure space availability.

Harris, who has served as the Manteca representative on the San Joaquin County Rail Commission since 1996, is pleased to see additional transit service.

“Whether its buses, cabs, or trains that is why we built the transit station,” Harris said.

Passenger train service could start stopping at the Manteca station by the end of 2018.

That’s the earliest Manteca commuters bound for the Bay Area could catch three different trains.

That’s based on an aggressive timetable to extend Altamont Corridor Express service into Modesto. The extension would add a downtown Manteca and a downtown Modesto stop to the commuter service that currently runs four daily commute trips in each direction between Stockton and San Jose. The Modesto train would also stop at the existing Lathrop-Manteca station. A Ripon stop is also being considered.

ACE also is targeting extending service southward from Modesto to Merced by 2022 with a station also in downtown Turlock. That extension would provide a connection with the California High Speed Rail station that will be built in Merced as a stopping point between Los Angeles and the Bay Area via Pacheco Pass.

ACE wants to have 10 trains running in each direction by 2022.

ACE train service is eventually targeted to connect with Sacramento.

When that happens ACE would provide a commute corridor from Sacramento to San Jose as well as Merced to the Bay Area. The system is also designed to connect with California High Speed Rail trains in Merced and San Jose.

Meeting the 2018 deadline would require Stanislaus County voters to impose a county-wide transportation sales tax as San Joaquin County has through Measure K.

It would cost $161 million to extend ACE train service along the existing Union Pacific Railroad corridor through Manteca and into downtown Manteca as part of the first phase. The project includes 20.3 miles of track to essentially double track the corridor from Lathrop to downtown Modesto. The doubling tracking would cost $40.6 million for construction while the 250 acres of right-of-way required is expected to cost $50 million. Structures- such as bridges – would add another $30 million while a signal system would cost $40.6 million.

Double tracking is essential due to the heavy freight train movement on the UP line. Working on one track would make commute times longer as freight movements would slow down passenger service.

Moving forward at the same time is the $77 million capital improvement project to the Altamont Pass corridor. The project being funded in part with $38.5 million in Measure K sales tax receipts would initially shave 10 minutes each way off the current commute from Stockton to San Jose that averages an hour and 40 minutes one-way.

Additional improvements that are eligible for funding from the state high speed rail bonds – would further enhance the Altamont Pass crossing. Currently trains move as slow as 25 mph at some points due to curving tracks. A straighter shot designed to accommodate high speed trains could get the running time between Stockton and San Jose down to 55 minutes. That would involve bridges as well as an expensive tunnel.